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Tesco's Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives
Global Retailing and CSR Initiatives Cont..
The need to protect, maintain and enhance the company’s reputation and brand image is another key driver of
CSR initiatives. This is especially critical for retailers and consumer products companies because of their direct
involvement with the end consumer.
For long-term success and prosperity, retailers must take stock not only of their opportunities, but also their duties
as corporate citizens. With increasing legislation and societal pressures, they need to rethink the way they manage,
measure and demonstrate their CSR performance
UK Retailing and CSR
Retailing is a huge, diverse and dynamic sector of the UK economy offering a range of goods and services to
consumers. In 2004, 305,000 retail outlets generated a total turnover of £250 billion ($468 billion).3 The sector employed
11% of the nation's workforce. The top 10 UK retailers are: (1) Tesco (2) Sainsbury's (3) Morrisons (4) Marks &
Spencer (5) Kingfisher (6) DSG International (7) Alliance Boots (8) Home Retail Group (9) John Lewis (10) Kesa
Electricals.4
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Especially in UK, many leading retailers recognise their impacts on the environment, on the society and the
economy. They are keen on commitment to CSR, their shareholders, customers, employees, the government and the
society. The content analysis and interviews of Daniel and Richard indicated, "Performance considerations were the
most prominent motivation behind CSR, followed by corporate values and response to stakeholder pressures."7
Increasingly, large retailers in UK are exploring the ways to exploit their CSR commitments and achievements in
communicating their values to the customers. The UK government argued that transparency in the ways companies
address andmanage environmental, economic and social issues can improve relationships with employees, customers
and stakeholders.
British Retail Consortium reports, "CSR is increasingly providing a template for retailers to report on a range of
issues, (which) has enabled the sector to engage with a range of stakeholders from consumers, employees, fund
managers and the media on positive progress and refreshingly innovative programmes ... and that 'for retailers, CSR
is inherent to their business strategy'."8
Moreover, retailers are increasingly pressurized by consumer groups and activists to become more socially
responsible. Retailers are pressurized for more environmentally safe production, improved labour conditions, and fair
trade among transnational subsidiaries. While some describe the effects of
globalization and the CSR movement as
ratcheting up transnational social standards, others claim that these efforts merely serve as a legitimising mechanism
of global capitalism, which sustains unequal distributional effects under the rhetoric of human rights.9
3]"Retail trade", www.statistics.gov.uk/abi/Division_52.asp, 2005
4]"2006 Global Powers of Retailing", op.cit.
5]"Driving Change, Retail Strategy Group Report", www.dti.gov.uk/retaildoc/main.pdf, 2004
6]McGoldrick, P.J., "Retail Marketing", McGraw-Hill, London, 2002
7]Daniel Silberhotn and Richard C.Warren, "Defining Corporate Social Responsibility - A View from Big Companies in Germany and the UK", European Business Review, Vol.19 No.5, pages 352-372, 2007
8]"Key Issues in Corporate Social Responsibility",www.brc.org.uk/brusselsKI04, 2005
9]Lobel Orly, "Sustainable capitalism or ethical transnationalism: Offshore production and economic development", Journal of Asian Economics, February 2006, Vol. 17 Issue 1,
pages 56-62
